Springtime in June
June 8, 2008 | Updates
Well, we’re a week into June here and the weather feels like April. I’ve been wearing sweaters everyday and turning the heater on at nights again. Weird. Well, not too much going on here. Nathan did come down with the flu right after I posted last time. And then Samuel got it and Weston got it. So, it was a few days of cleaning up lots of throw up. Fortunately for me, whenever any of them decided to actually throw up ON someone, they threw up on my sister instead of me :). Good practice for her is what I figure!
Last weekend, Weston was ordained to the priesthood in our church. My parents came from Las Vegas to participate, so we had a pretty relaxing weekend. Then this past Tuesday, Nathan turned 2 years old! I can’t believe it, honestly. We haven’t celebrated his brithday yet, but will tomorrow. We would’ve done it sooner, but his oldest brother was at scout camp all week and we didn’t want to celebrate without him. I did take a few pictues of Nathan on his birthday, though. I just can’t believe how much he has grown!
This week we have an NACD appointment and a dysphasia appointment. The NACD appointment will be our last one for now. I’ve decided we can’t afford both the NACD and ABR, so we are going to go with ABR for now and just work up our own educational therapy for Samuel at least for the next year or two. I think NACD has done good things for us, but I also think we need to move on and see how beneficial ABR can be.
The dysphasia clinic will be to evaluate Samuel’s diet, growth, weight gain, etc. We had a goal of him weighing 35 lbs 6 months ago. He was up to 34 lbs at one point, but these last two bouts of sickness have brought him back down to 32.5 lbs. Bummer, really. So, we’ll see what advice they hopefully have for us. They have a good speech therapist there that I really wish he could see, but it would take us driving down there to see her and with gas prices the way they are, I’m not sure that’s feasible. I’ve been trying to get into see a speech therapist at the college here without much luck. I’m probably just going to have to start being really pesty about it.
So, that’s about it. Samuel has been off the wall wiggly for the past 2 days. I honestly don’t know how the kid can go and go and go like he does. I guess that explains the difficulty getting him to gain weight. We have heard him laugh a few times lately. I found a spot where he is really ticklish between his shoulder blades and I can sometimes get him to laugh. My sister said she caught him laughing really hard the other day at the show he was watching. And I had a cute experience with him yesterday. He was laying on the floor staring intently at something in his closet. I picked up the toy I thought he was looking at and asked him if he wanted it. He smiled, so I put it by him. Two seconds later, he pushed that little car toy across the floor. I was surprised and made a big fuss that he had done that so well. I put it back by him and asked him to do it again and he did it several times in a row and very purposefully. It’s just a swipe of his arm, mind you, and no type of hand control, but it was fun to see him interacting with his surrounding for a moment. Hopefully, it’s a result of the ABR and he’s gaining more control of his arms. We are up to nearly 80 hours now. A far cry from the 10,000 hours I’d like to see over the next 3 years, but we will get there!
Well, that’s about it. I hope everyone is doing well.
Love,
The Jewkes
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June 15th, 2008 at 11:59 pm, Suzi Searles Says:
I can totally understand your frustration in weight gain. Luke seems to be on the same roller coaster ride up to 31 down to 29 up to 32 down to 29, this last time he was up to 33 lbs the most he’s ever been. I’m hoping he will stay there and go beyond what a huge answer to prayer that would be.
You are blessed to be hearing Samuel laugh, most people in this world take it so for granted hearing their sweet children laughing. What a gift from God to have a laughing, smiley, wiggly child, though I realize you wish he was also running, singing and jumping off the walls kind of kid. One step at a time!
Be blessed my friend and don’t give up the fight for more progress, you are making a huge difference in Samuel’s life!
Love in Christ,
Suzi Searles